At this years Sundance Film Festival, there were two films in which a religious fundamentalist threatened the lives of gay or gay sympathetic characters. Kevin Smiths Red State got the most attention with a full on religious protest out side the screening. However, The Ledge also explored a similar idea. In The Ledge, Gavin (Charlie Hunnam) crosses paths with his neighbor Joe (Patrick Wilson), a Christian who vocally fights against a gay lifestyle. Gavin is an atheist and lives with a gay roommate, so he gets in Joes face. Joe ends up forcing Gavin to climb onto a ledge and jump, providing the tension in writer/director Matthew Chapman's film. Chris Gorham plays Gavins roommate Chris. Joe first reveals his perspective when he thinks both Gavin and Chris are gay. Later in the film, Chris brings home a new boyfriend and tells Gavin about their attempts to be accepted by the Jewish faith. In a film debating the hot button issue of the day, Chris represents those actually living it.
Gorham spent an exhausting Saturday afternoon in interview after interview the day after the Sundance premiere. At least it was warm looking out a window on the snow covered Main St. in Park City, UT. Gorham may be best known to TV audiences from the series Ugly Betty and Covert Affairs. We had 13 minutes to cover the scope of homophobic prejudice, and season two of his hit spy show.
SG: How important a role does Chris play in the film's themes?
CG: I remember my very first meeting with Matthew, I came in and he asked me what I thought of the part. I told him first, I just love this character because he has so many things in his life that he could be complaining about and hes not that guy. Hes very optimistic. Hes very loving. Hes a good friend and hes looking for the same thing that everybodys looking for in life, just somebody to love them and make some modicum of happiness. Its such a nice and important kind of C story throughout the movie. Its really the only healthy relationship in the film, the one between Chris and Gavin. You see just two regular guys who are friends who care about each other. All the other relationships in the movie get so complicated.
SG: Well, Chris and his boyfriend seem healthy.
CG: Yes, yes. Chris and Frank then halfway through, you see a love relationship that is also working. Its funny, in the very first scene, I think its the first scene with Chris and Gavin where he makes a joke. He says, Full of light. Its full of light. He says it to bug Gavin to get under his skin because its a hobby for him. Thats what he is in this film. Hes the guy thats full of light. Hes kind of the light at the end of a tunnel, for Shana (Liv Tyler) at the end of the movie too because she needs a friend and so does he.
SG: Theres really a whole story in that subplot.
CG: Yeah, there really is. So I just love that character and I was really happy that the audience responded well to him because youre right, I think it is an important part of the movie.
SG: Do you weigh in on the theological debate of the movie?
CG: Personally? Yeah, I have my personal feelings. Its just not something I really talk about but I think its an important debate to have and I think its an interesting debate to have. For the most part, I think the films pretty fair about it because you see a lot of different points of view on it. You see the way faith, sometimes maybe more than religion, faith affects people differently and how people treat it differently.
SG: Can you engage someone like Joe whos that extreme?
CG: No. Someone like that, theres no debate to be had with someone who is inflexible within their stance. If youve made up your mind and no ones going to change it, then theres no debate. With some people of faith like Joe, and some people not even as extreme because hes an extremist as any other religious extremist would be, there is no debate. He makes that very clear in the movie. When they try to have the debate between Joe and Gavin, they try to talk, they just cant do it.
SG: I would say you need to avoid people like Joe. Theres nothing good that can come from that.
CG: No, theres nothing. Its interesting because religious extremism is so present in the dialogue today. Its so present in our lives. Its something people think about a lot. I think most of the time its thought about as an other, as someone overseas or not us. But that kind of extreme exists everywhere.
SG: Did you have one day at the bottom of the building?
CG: Yes, yeah. At the end of the movie, that was actually my last scene. I ran to the airport directly from there. I was in the middle of shooting Ugly Betty when I was shooting this movie so I was bouncing back and forth between Baton Rouge and New York. I did it while I was shooting my last episode, their second to last episode.
SG: Why was it so important to get this part and push yourself to a physical extreme like that?
CG: I just thought it was such a smart movie. Its talking about something that I don't think gets talked about in an intelligent way very often. I just love this part. I just love this character.
SG: You just couldnt let anyone else have it?
CG: No. I went in and I met and I gave my pitch on what I thought it was and what I thought it could be. It felt like Matthew and I were on the same page from the first conversation. Actually, myself and my whole family, we had taken a picture for the No H8 Campaign. We took a family portrait for them, me and my wife, our two boys and our baby girl at the time, because Im in an interracial marriage which was illegal not that long ago. So were very supportive of gay marriage. Our photo came out that day, the day of my meeting. The photo was put up on the No Hate [site] and they wrote a beautiful blog entry about us and about our support of the cause and how the arguments against gay marriage are the exact same arguments that had been used against interracial marriage.
SG: Dont the haters see that?
CG: And it will happen.
SG: But then therell be something else.
CG: Of course there will. There always will be, which by the way I feel is no reason to despair because there will always be something. There is always something to fight for and there is always something that you are justified to fight for.
SG: I think the next issue is robots.
CG: Robots? Robot marriage. Well, thats a slippery slope. [Laughs] Anyway, that picture and that blog entry came out that day and I found out about it as I left the meeting. So I immediately e-mailed Matthew and [producer] Michael Mailer and sent them a link and said, See, I wasnt bullshitting you. I really do care about this cause and I would be honored to be in this film and to play this part. So it all worked out and I was very grateful.
SG: How is Covert Affairs going?
CG:Covert Affairs is going great. I think we were the number four show over the summer and we were the number one show on cable in a couple demographics so it was a hit. We were thrilled. Were about to go into production on season two in March. Piper [Perabo] was nominated for a Golden Globe which is amazing. I had some really good conversations with the writers, at the Globes actually, and found out about some really great stuff theyre planning for me personally but for the show overall for next season.
SG: Do you know what kind of cool spy missions you might go on?
CG: I dont know mission specific stuff. I do know a couple specific episodes theyre doing for me that I cant talk about yet but theres one in particular that I think people are going to be really excited about.
SG: Do they have to do with Auggie being blind or are they completely unrelated?
CG: One of them is going to be a big reveal of Auggies past, yeah. Youre going to learn a lot more about what happened.
SG: Could that be a flashback episode?
CG: I don't know, well see.
SG: Would you like to play Auggie younger?
CG: Yeah, itd be fun. Its interesting because in the show, hes given a couple different versions of how hes lost his sight. Theyre both similar but theyre kind of different versions I think. Honestly, they havent even told me exactly how he lost his sight. Theyve been keeping it under wraps so we may find that out in season two.
SG: We dont want spoilers, but its hard to even be vague when you havent read the scripts.
CG: And I dont have a lot of specifics but theyve told me they are going to get Auggie back out into the field again. Theyre bringing, for Pipers stuff, theyre bringing on one of the favorite guest star spies from last season is coming back. Theyre going to continue wrapping up some of the threads that were left open from last season, like dealing with the leak.
SG: Do you think season two might be too soon to reveal how Auggie lost his sight?
CG: No, I don't think it would be too soon because thats not his arc for the series. I think its one of the mysteries about him and one of the things that I really like about how theyre writing him is theyre doling out information a little at a time, like he does. He keeps his personal life pretty close to the vest so I dont imagine its going to be a situation where theyre just going to vomit up everything in an episode and thatll be it. Theyre too smart for that.
SG: Do you prefer getting out in the field or do you like the office scenes?
CG: I like them both. Getting out in the field is a lot of fun but the way they did it last season was so organic and justified which I think is why it was so successful.
SG: It was right in the pilot so it was always an option.
CG: It was always an option but really the real episode where hes out in the field field was episode seven, was "Communication Breakdown." He has to help his ex-girlfriend, hes on the train, hes on a mission. The downside of that for me is I have to work a lot more. Normally when Im in the office most of the time, I work two to three days a week and then I can fly home and get to see my kids which is great.
SG: Have you been at Sundance before?
CG: No, this is my first time.
SG: What have you gotten to see so far?
CG: Just our movie. Its the only movie Im going to get to see because were only up here until tomorrow. We saw our screening yesterday and then its been nonstop but its okay because I love the film so thats what were here for.
SG: What did you think of the reaction at the screening? I was surprised that people were laughing when Joe starts giving his anti-gay religious spiel.
CG: Yeah, I was too. I was surprised at a lot of the laughs. We were talking about it earlier actually. It didnt feel like they were laughing at the film. They were kind of laughing at him which may be kind of an audience specific thing. I don't know that well get that reaction in every audience. Itd be interesting to see it. Its one thing seeing it up here. Itd be interesting to see it at other places around the country and see what the reaction would be because I imagine it would be very different depending on where you are.
SG: Maybe this audience was so progressive, they think what Joes saying is silly. Other audiences may not be so progressive.
CG: No, no, youre right. There will be people, at least for a bit, wholl probably agree with him.
SG: Are you at peace with the end of Ugly Betty?
CG: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was really only in it for the first two years. I just had a great time. These things dont last forever so the fact that they had four years I think was pretty remarkable.
SG: Was it nice to get to go back though?
CG: Yeah, it was great. I had a lot of good friends and he was a fun character to play.
IFC Films will release The Ledge this year.